*inhales*

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-

Guys...words cannot describe how sorry I am for being gone for so long. I've missed writing so much, but dealing with not only my first semester at college but also worsening anxiety has been rough :( Now, however, I'm on winter break, and I'm going to do my best to keep writing both this and RFL 2: Into the Dark! I have no idea how many of you are even still with me at this point, but...if you are reading this, thank you so much for your patience. I plan to keep this story going for as long as I can, and I hope you guys will continue to join me here to read it. :)

With that being said, time for reviews! Thanks so much to linguaphile, Loftcat27, Demi clayton, Ashline3000, sparklehannah, MadCrazyChloe, Banana Bird, eternax (Okay, that's a hilarious sentence, thank you very much! XD), and DerangedDolphinofMagic (Aw, thank you so much for your kind words! That's very sweet :) for reviewing!

Anyway, now, finally...on with the chapter!

~ Cursed, Part Three ~

As I know I've mentioned before, it's...not normal for a spirit to have died in order to become the way that they are. Ghosts and spirits are two different things, after all, and in fact, if I didn't exist, the concept of death and revival would be entirely unheard of.

However, since I do exist...apparently it's a thing that can happen.

I don't know how, I don't know why it's just me...but clearly, it's a thing, because otherwise, I wouldn't be here today. Though, despite knowing it's unusual, I've found that, over time, I've come to terms with it all.

Cerelia, however, seems to be having a more difficult time processing it.

She stares at me in complete shock, no longer even acknowledging the fact that she's still frozen to a tree. It seems I've caught her so off-guard that she's not even mad about that anymore...never thought I'd see the day.

"W-What...what are you talking about!?" she stammers, though I can tell she already knows what I'm implying.

"You heard me," I say simply. "What about a corpse? They don't exactly have a lot of body heat, and, well...it's not like they run the risk of dying again."

"Y-You don't seriously mean to suggest-!?"

"That I began my life as a human?" I ask, one eyebrow raised. "And only became a spirit after...rising from the dead? I think you know that that's exactly what I'm suggesting, Cerelia."

"B-But...that's impossible!" the Spirit of Spring insists, shocked. "No one can come back from the dead! It's...it's unheard of! The...the sheer amount of magic that would take...it...it would be astronomical!"

I give a slight sigh. "Which is probably why only the Man in the Moon was capable of it," I say quietly. "And...why it's only happened once."

For a long moment, she continues staring at me in disbelief, but over time, her expression gradually changes. As her shoulders stiffen, her emerald eyes narrow into slits and she hisses through gritted teeth, "...why you?" she asks, sounding frustrated, or almost...hurt. "Of all the people...he could've brought back...why the hell did he choose you?"

An...odd reaction, at first glance. But I've been considering something. Cerelia seems to stiffen up whenever the Spirit of Winter that Old Man Winter murdered is mentioned, and I'm pretty sure Eliana and Silas have done the same before...I'm starting to think that the three of them were close to the unfortunate spirit...they were most likely a part of the original sibling group, if I had to guess. In that case, it would make sense for Cerelia to be bitter over the fact that I got to live and that spirit didn't. With all this in mind, I...admittedly feel some pity for them…

But still...I'm not about to forgive and forget, nor am I going to apologize for being alive.

"I don't know exactly why he chose me," I admit, shaking my head slightly. "And...I doubt I ever will. But the fact of the matter is that I'm alive, I'm here, and I don't intend on turning evil any time soon. So just...leave me be. Can I ask that of you?"

As I expected, she doesn't cave all that easily. Instead, after staying silent for a long moment, she says flatly, "Just because you were made unconventionally doesn't mean that you're safe from the curse. The...human...in you might help you remain yourself for now, but you're still a winter spirit...you're still susceptible, no matter what."

"I'm willing to take that chance," I respond, though inwardly, I'm still pretty damn nervous...but I can't show that. Come on, Jack, ice cold exterior, you can do this…

"I'm not," Cerelia retorts. "We can't risk letting you reach full power at any point. It's nothing personal...you would just be far too much of a threat if you were to turn."

I roll my eyes slightly. "That's a hard 'if,'" I point out. "There's nothing guaranteeing that I'll go evil on you, and if anything, mistreating me would only speed up the process. Haven't you seen, like...any movie ever?"

"No," Cerelia says flatly, seeing as she's a nature spirit who's never had even a fraction of the interest in the mortal world that I do. "And even if I had, that doesn't change the results of what we've tried to do to combat the curse. Playing nice only makes us more vulnerable to attack. If you ever do turn, keeping you weak would mitigate the amount of damage you were able to do to this world, at least." She arches an eyebrow. "Unless you want to risk freezing the precious children of the world to death?"

My eyes narrow.

"I would never do that," I growl, fists clenching.

"Mhm…" she looks away. "That's the sort of thing they all said. And yet one by one...their hearts seemed to freeze over."

"I'm not like them," I insist.

She rolls her eyes, then glares at me. "You're extremely arrogant if you think you can resist a curse that countless others have fallen to simply because you want to. That's not how curses work. And strange origins or not, you're still not special, Frost. You're no chosen one, no...hero meant to break the curse and save your brethren. You're just a stubborn, naive child."

"Think what you will of me," I snap, practically cutting her off. "But I promise you, of all the things I am, I am not naive. Listen, I never claimed to be a hero. I never claimed to be 'the chosen one' or whatever. I'm not that idealistic, I know life's no fairytale. And even if 300's young for a spirit, I promise you, I'm no child. Though...I suppose you are right about one thing."

"And what would that be?" Cerelia asks dully.

I grin. "I'm one hell of a stubborn jackass." I sling my staff over my shoulder and give a smirk. "What can I say? I was human once, and let me tell you, those guys never back down for anything. Seriously, their willpower is fantastic."

"Ugh...Frost, that doesn't mean you'll-"

"Ah ah ah!" I hold up a hand to silence her. "Don't even say it. You're right, I obviously can't know for sure that the curse won't affect me. But...I'm gonna do everything in my power to not let that happen. This isn't just bluster, Cerelia. I can't let myself turn...and with the other Guardians by my side, I think I can accomplish that."

The spring spirit scowls, but even still, she seems to back off a bit. "...I still think you're a fool," she grumbles. "And if your foolishness endangers us...you know what we'll have to do."

I shrug. "Like I said, think what you will of me," I reply. "But I don't intend to prove you right. Anyway...I'll be leaving now. I've got snow to make, windows to ice, you get the gist...and eventually, I suppose I've got a reputation to restore, yeah? Au revoir."

With that, I turn around and begin to walk off to find a less tree-filled area so I can take to the sky without having to dodge a bunch of branches while ascending. To tell the truth, I'm...admittedly a lot more scared of this whole curse business than I let on. But I figure that's how it gets you...Cerelia did say that knowing about the curse made it progress faster, right? Maybe it's a question of fear and vulnerability. Falling victim to paranoia only darkens the heart that much quicker and allows the evil magic to easily take root. If I start to show signs of going bad, then I suppose I can worry about trying to break the curse or something like that...for now, I guess I'll just need to stay true to my Center.

'Cause hey...can't be afraid when you're having fun, right?

"Hey, Frost!" Cerelia suddenly calls out, shaking me from my thoughts. "Are you going to remove this ice or what!?"

...right, still frozen to a tree. Now, the mature thing to do would be to turn around and help her out...but…

I simply laugh and call back over my shoulder. "Ah, don't worry, you'll thaw out soon enough!" Then, I continue walking, allowing her angry spluttering to fade into the distance as I leave her there.

Was that kind of petty? Sure. I can admit that. But come on...I think I've earned the right to do that at this point, haven't I?

That's the end of this arc for now, but you can count on this subject returning in the future...;) Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed, and remember to leave a review and tell me what you think, 'cause it really does help. :) I'll see you guys next time!

'Til then, Sapphire316, out.